Postcard from Bishkek

Here is a “trivia” question which I used to try out on my American friends … Which of the 50 states of the US has a Union Jack as part of its State Flag? I learned fairly early on that I rephrase the question because people asked me to explain, “What’s a Union Jack?” … […]

The Silk Road Lodge 1s 12 years old today. That is, we opened our doors to the public on 7th August, 2000. We’ll have a cake in the office, as usual, to commemorate the occasion … but as it is not exactly a kroogliy data - a round figure – I don’t think we’ll be doing […]

Yesterday, I wrote a postcard about the television programme called “Call my Bluff” and the word “googol”.   Strictly speaking, it wasn’t about Kyrgyzstan, or the life of an ex-pat here in Kyrgyzstan – but I hope I will be forgiven for that. Today’s postcard is also not strictly about Kyrgyzstan but another word taken […]

Back in the days of Black and White television, (yes, that long ago), there was a popular programme on the BBC2 channel called “Call my Bluff!”.   It first appeared in 1965, (in black and white) and lasted until 1988, when it was seen in colour. Call My Bluff was a panel game chaired by […]

The other day IO was talking to someone and we exchanged email addresses.  Mine, for example,  is ianclaytor@gmail.com and so I duly dictated it to him, in Russian: “ian claytor, (all one word), sobachka, gmail dotchka com”. He asked me, “How do you say in English, ‘sobatchka’?”  I answered, matter of factly, “at”.  He smiled. Although […]

When is a joke not a joke? April Fools’ Day, (or All Fools’ Day), is not a holiday but as in many other countries around the world is celebrated on April 1st by people playing hoaxes or practical jokes on one another.   Most of them are small scale, private jokes, played on immediate family, friends […]

It looks as if 2010 is going to end, at least in some respects, as it began. Back in January, “Siberian air gripped Britain” as unusual High Pressure systems massed over the Atlantic from November 2009 onwards, blocking the customary Westerly winds that would normally bring mild weather to Western Europe.  The result was that […]

Those of you that know me will know that one of my favourite pastimes used to be playing “Trivial Pursuits”.  I have that sort of mind that “collects” trivia … I loved the Geography questions but I also enjoyed History ones as well. Although I am interested in History, my knowledge of the subject is […]

As I have said before, I enjoy “Trivial Pursuits” – not just the game itself, but simply gathering useless but gathering interesting and unusual facts. For example – Do you know: who won the first ever Gold Medal in the modern Olympic Games in 1896?, (for the record it was: James Connolly of the United […]

I have always been attracted by linguistic quirks, conundrums and puns, such as: What’s the longest word in the English language? James Joyce’s spelling for the word “fish” as “ghoti” … What word rhymes with “orange”? Which European capital sounds like multiplying? What is the longest word in English which doesn’t contain a vowel? What […]